I'm visiting Japan and curious how the US would get intelligence on things like where factories were to bomb and such.

A Nation Under Our Feet is on my short list to read, but right now I'm trying to find an audible book so I can listen on my way to/from work.

Feel free to suggest all good books that cover that era, I'll check if they're on Audible myself.

I recently read The Wars of Reconstruction and Slavery by Another Name and finished the lecture portion of David Blight's Yale course on The Civil War and Reconstruction and I'd like to fill in gaps I'm missing before The Civil Rights Movement. Specifically history of the lives of black Americans during that period.

Basically exactly what it sounds like. I'm overwhelmed at the opportunity to research in the archives and I'd love to see what everyone would do if they were in my shoes!

Cheers.

I have seen this unsourced assertion several times, but was it actually a factor?

Also, in general, what were medieval European views towards domesticated cats?

I am taking my history PhD oral comps in two weeks. Comps in my department are like fight club - no one talks about it. I have no idea what to expect for two of my fields. I did get some indication of vague questions for my Middle East and American fields, but nothing for Modern Germany and 19th century Europe. My written covered fall of Weimar, Bismarkian Diplomacy, Congress of Vienna, Holocaust Historiography, Revs of 1848, inevitability of WWI, Sonderweg, and rise of Hitler. Germany prof is devoted to historiography, 19th century to narrative. Between the two fields, my book list is a little over 400. I'm simply overwhelmed and would so very much appreciate any advice on what to expect! With a three hour exam, I am guessing about 40 per field, or perhaps it is combined. I get the sense that it ends with my signature in blood to never discuss what went on behind those closed doors.

In thinking back on my K-12 education (and my college education, to be fair), it seems like we were always given a very triumphalist and straightforward narrative of the American revolution, while learning about the revolutions of other countries (like the French revolution) was always much more nuanced. How are or how have students in other countries been taught about the American revolution, and is it more nuanced/less triumphalist than the story most American students are told?

I know that there were a lot of chinese immigrants to the west coast, but I'm wondering why there weren't a lot of Asian immigrants to the U.S. or new world until the latter part of the 1900s.

I remember reading that Austrians used pig iron for their cuirass, for their cuirassier troop. Whereas the same troop were issued helmets made from bronze with steel caging. Other people said that was false and their cuirass was made from steel with an iron cylinder pressed in the edges, and their helmets were predomintately steel.

I am assuming that a lot of it was just depending on the regiment/armourer/country? And that bronze/brass/iron/steel were all used... I also remember reading how a lot of British swords had bronze in their hilts.

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As a Scot, I find the climate of countries like Spain uncomfortably warm. But I have sun cream, and I'm wearing a flannel shirt rather than an suit of mail. And plus, I understand that Europe was in a miniature ice age during the middle ages, so the east would have been even hotter in comparison. How did they cope?

I read a claim somewhere that Vikings were considered especially attractive by non Viking women, so much so that when the Vikings raided a town in Europe, the women would willingly go with them when "captured". Is there any truth to this? If so, why?

I know the people of Romania are ethnically distinct from Romans, Romani and Slavs, but where did the people of Romania come from and what is their relation to Rome and other Latin ethnic identities as a whole?

I'm watching the documentary The World at war, and they say that near the end of the war many soldiers made an effort to move towards the western front, in hopes of being captured by Americans/Brits rather than the Russians.

What about the people who were to far east to make that happen?

And regular civilians? Did they cross their fingers and hope for a quick end?

It seems like there are countless old albums with different renditions of Hawaiian themed tunes...

I am familiar with Thomas Malthus and his fears of overpopulation, which was used blame the English underclasses in the 1800's. How long has this idea been developed? How is it linked with the Eugenics movement? Has similar fears developed in non-western societies (not linked with the tradition Malthus was following from)?

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I'd imagine that the food was scarce on the boat and/or was not very nutritious and sailing was pretty hard physical work that could've damaged some muscles and break bones.

Also, when I say Iran I meant among the indigenously population not the Armenian minority.